The Dazz Band is an American R&B/

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

band most popular in the early 1980s. Emerging from

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, the group's biggest hit songs include "

Let It Whip "Let It Whip" is a 1982 single by the Dazz Band and their biggest hit, peaking at number one on the R&B chart for five non-consecutive weeks. The single also reached number two on the Dance chart and number five on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 ch ...

" (1982), "

Joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

" (1983), and "Let It All Blow" (1984). The name of the band is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words

History

The Dazz Band formed in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, United States, in 1976 stemming from the

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

band Bell Telefunk. Founded by Bobby Harris, the Dazz Band has performed since 1976 and continues to perform today. Original Kinsman Dazz/ Dazz Band members included Bobby Harris (saxophonist, vocalist), Kenny Pettus (lead vocalist, percussions), Isaac "Ike" Wiley, Jr. (drums), his brother Michael Wiley (bassist), and Michael Calhoun (songwriter/guitarist). The group was originally named Kinsman Dazz at the suggestion of Ray Calabrese, who later became its manager along with Sonny Jones, owner of The Kinsman Grill, located near the street Harris grew up on, and where the band worked as a house band. Kinsman Dazz was signed to

20th Century Records 20th Century Fox Records (also known as 20th Fox Records and 20th Century Records, or simply 20th Century Fox Film Scores and Fox Records) was a wholly owned subsidiary of film studio 20th Century Fox. The history of the label covers three dis ...

in 1977, and the group expanded from the original quintet consisting of Harris, Calhoun, Pettus, and the Wiley brothers and added newcomers Ed Meyers (trombone), Wayne Preston (saxophonist), and Les Thaler (trumpet). In 1977, the group went to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

to record with producer

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

. Due to illness, Gaye was unable to complete the project. Harris requested and got

Philip Bailey Philip James Bailey (born May 8, 1951) is an American R&B, soul, gospel and funk singer, songwriter and percussionist, best known as an early member and one of the two lead singers (along with group founder Maurice White) of the band Earth, Wi ...

, the vocalist of

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million re ...

, to produce the group's first album '' Kinsman Dazz''. They released their first single, "I Might as Well Forget About Loving You" in 1978. Philip Bailey made significant contributions to the group's vocal arrangements and overall sound. He also co-produced the second album ''

Dazz "Dazz" is a song by R&B/funk band Brick. "Dazz" is a combination of disco, funk and jazz, hence the title "Dazz", a combination denominator for "Disco Jazz". Released in 1976 from their debut album '' Good High'', it would become their bigges ...

'' in 1979, when the band achieved their second charting hit, "Catchin' Up on Love". In 1980, the Kinsman Dazz changed its name to the Dazz Band, after being signed to

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...

, which simultaneously included a re-organization of members. Wayne Preston and Les Thaler were no longer with the group, and Sennie "Skip" Martin, (trumpet, vocals), Pierre DeMudd (trumpet, vocals; April 20, 1953 – May 10, 2017), and Kevin Kendricks (keyboards) were added. In 1981, guitarist Eric Fearman was also added. The Dazz Band's first album for Motown was ''Invitation to Love'' (1980). The album's title track began a string of hits starting in March 1981. The group's next album ''Let the Music Play'' (1981) featured the single "Knock! Knock!" which reached the top 50. The Dazz Band's breakthrough came with the hit "

", written and produced by Reggie Andrews, from their ''Keep It Live'' (1982) album. "Let It Whip" reached No. 1 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

and won a

Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals The Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal was awarded between 1970 and 2011. From 1967 to 1969 and in 1971 the award included instrumental performances. The award had several minor name changes: *From 1967 to 1968 the ...

. Members of the Grammy Award winning Dazz Band included: Sennie "Skip" Martin, Pierre DeMudd, Bobby Harris, Eric Fearman, Kenny Pettus, Steve Cox, Keith Harrison, Michael Wiley and Isaac Wiley. On December 31, 1982, during the Dazz Band's New Year's Eve concert at the Front Row Theatre in Cleveland, Mayor George V. Voinovich presented Bobby Harris and the Dazz Band the Key to the City with proclamations from the State of Ohio. The Dazz Band continued to score R&B hits with the songs such as "Party Right Here" (1983), "On the One for Fun" (1983) "

" (1983), and "Let It All Blow" (also their biggest UK hit single, peaking at No. 12 in 1984. Andrews produced five Dazz Band albums: ''Let the Music Play'' (1981), ''Keep It Live'' (1982), ''On the One'' (1983), ''Joystick'' (1983) and ''Jukebox'' (1984), all on the Motown label. Harris was the associate producer on all five albums, and producer of the album ''Hot Spot'' (1985), also on Motown. After winning the Grammy in 1982, Keith Harrison (1983) (vocalist, keyboards) was added to the group. In 1985, both Eric Fearman and Sennie "Skip" Martin (trumpet, vocalist) left the group and were replaced by guitarist Marlon McClain; and the search began for additional vocalists that would match the Dazz Band sound. In 1986, the Dazz Band recorded ''Wild & Free'' (1986), which featured Jerry Bell as lead vocalist, and was released by

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

. The Dazz Band signed with RCA Records in 1988 and released the album ''Rock the Room'', which charted with the single "Anticipation" featuring vocals from Juan Lively. From 1994 until 2001, Terry Stanton (vocalist) contributed on its albums ''Funkology'' (1994) and ''Under the Streetlights'' (1995). After serving as lead vocalist with

Kool & the Gang Kool & the Gang is an American R&B/soul/funk band formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964 by brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell, with Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, Robert "Spike" Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, and Ricky West. T ...

for many years, Sennie "Skip" Martin returned to performing and recording with the Dazz Band in 1997, and recorded on ''Double Exposure'' (1997), recorded live in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington, and shared lead vocals with Terry Stanton on ''Time Traveler'' (2001) on Major Hits Records. In 2014, Harris added vocalist Donny Sykes to the band. Cleveland native, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Alvin Frazier was added to the group in 2021. The band released "Drop It" in 2019, their first single in almost 20 years, on the Bogi Music Group label.

1990s revival

Following the infusion of rap into American music, many classic funk/R&B/soul acts in the US began performing abroad. In the late 1990s, Harris, along with the support of business entrepreneur Bo Boviard and long time friend and band member Marlon McClain, decided to revitalize funk in America and called upon members from the

Bar-Kays The Bar-Kays are an American funk band formed in 1964. The band had dozens of charting singles from the 1960s to the 1980s, including "Soul Finger" (US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number 17, R&B number 3) in 1967, "Son of Shaft" (R&B number 10) in ...

Con Funk Shun Con Funk Shun (formerly known as Project Soul) is an American R&B and funk band whose popularity began in the mid-1970s and ran through the 1980s. They were influenced by funk legend James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone. Signed to Mercury R ...

, Charlie Wilson of

the Gap Band The Gap Band was an American R&B and funk band that rose to fame during the 1970s and 1980s. The band consisted of three brothers: Charlie, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson, along with other members; it was named after streets (Greenwood, Archer, an ...

the S.O.S. Band The S.O.S. Band (sometimes written as S.O.S. Band; abbreviation for Sounds of Success) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B and Boogie (genre), electro-funk musical ensemble, group who gained fame in the 1980s. They are best known for the songs ...

, and the Dazz Band, for a project entitled 'United We Funk All-Stars'. A studio album followed that included

Roger Troutman Roger Troutman (November 29, 1951 – April 25, 1999), also known as Roger, was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and the founder of the band Zapp who helped spearhead the funk movement and heavily influenc ...

of Zapp. The concept was a success, and was captured on a live CD (Major Hits Records) promoted by syndicated

radio host A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a radi ...

Tom Joyner.

Trademark dispute

In November 2012, former Kinsman Dazz member Michael Calhoun applied for registration of the Kinsman Dazz Trademark along with Raymon W. Phillips. Calhoun was released from the group in 1981. Harris filed petition to cancel the fraudulent mark in April 2015, and Harris' cancellation of the Kinsman Dazz mark was granted in August 2015, by the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. In January 2014, Michael Calhoun, Jerry Bell, Ed Meyers, Robert Young, and Larry Blake applied for the Dazz Band trademark. In March 2015, the mark was registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Upon learning of both registrations, Harris secured legal representation from former US Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Judge, Gary Krugman, at Sughrue Mion in Washington D.C. Petitions to cancel the marks and were filed with the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. After two years of legal filings, and a series of unsuccessful attempts to stop Dazz Band performances, the Dazz Band mark was cancelled in April 2017.

Members

Current

*Bobby Harris -

Saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

Clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

Vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

(1977–present) * Sennie "Skip" Martin -

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

Lead Vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

(1980–1985; 1997–present) *Keith Harrison -

Keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...

(1982–1988; 2020–present) *Marlon McClain -

Guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(1984–2014; 2019–present) *Raymond Calhoun -

Drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(1998–2001; 2019–present) *Donny Sykes -

(2015–present) *Alvin Frazier -

Bass Guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(2021–present)

Past

*Wayne Preston - Saxophone (1977–1979) *Les Thaler - Trumpet (1977–1979) *Michael G. Jackson - Keyboards (1977–1979; died 1997) *Ed Meyers -

Trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

(1977–1981) *Michael Wiley -

Bass guitars The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

, vocals (1977–1988; died 1993) *Isaac Wiley, Jr. - Drums (1977–1985) *Michael Calhoun - Guitars, vocals (1977–1981) *Kenny Pettus -

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, vocals (1977–1986; 1998–2001) *Kevin Kendrick -

Keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

(1980–1981; 1998–2001) *Pierre DeMudd - Trumpet, vocals (1980–1988; 1998–2001; died 2017) *Eric Fearman - Guitars (1980–1985) *Steve Cox -

Synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

(1981–1988) *Jerry Bell - Lead vocals (1984–1999, 2011) *Juan Lively - Lead vocals (1988–1993) *Terry Stanton - Lead vocals (1994–2001; died 2006) *Nathaniel Philips - Bass (1995–1998)

Discography

Albums

Singles

Awards

Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal The Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal was awarded between 1970 and 2011. From 1967 to 1969 and in 1971 the award included instrumental performances. The award had several minor name changes: *From 1967 to 1968 the ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

- "Let It Whip".

References

Bibliography

External links

Dazz Band official site

Discography
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

*
Dazz Band official Facebook Page
{{Authority control American funk musical groups American dance music groups Motown artists Geffen Records artists Musical groups from Cleveland Grammy Award winners American soul musical groups 1977 establishments in Ohio Musical groups established in 1977 Musical groups from Ohio